Fruits and vegetables are generally grown in an environment which exposes them to foreign materials such as dirt, sand, insects, insecticides, etc. Other food articles are often processed and/or stored in environments which expose them to similar foreign materials. In addition, food articles are constantly being exposed to micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses, yeasts, molds, etc. Accordingly, it is necessary to sufficiently clean food articles prior to consumption. However, merely rinsing food articles such as fruits and vegetables, for example, may not sufficiently remove the foreign substances. This is particularly so when trying to sufficiently clean leafy vegetables such as lettuce or cabbage, for example, since foreign substances may tend to accumulate in between the leaves and in the many crevices commonly found on such vegetables. In addition, foreign substances and/or micro-organisms may even penetrate the pores and crevices in the skin or leaves of the fruit or vegetable and are not easily removed simply by rinsing. Accordingly, it may be necessary to scrub the fruit or vegetable to remove any accumulated foreign substances. However, scrubbing the fruit or vegetable is time consuming, inefficient and may bruise the fruit or vegetable. Foreign substances and/or micro-organisms which are commonly found on the surface of other food articles such as grains, meats (e.g., beef, poultry, pork, etc.), are even more difficult to clean, since these food articles cannot be easily washed and scrubbed.
A vegetable washer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,051. The washer has a container including a water driven turbine that spins an impeller within the container. The impeller includes a plurality of flexible blades or bristles that come into contact with the food articles placed in the container. The blades or bristles cause an agitation to remove foreign materials from the food articles. A system is provided for directing a plurality of water streams at the food articles.
Although such a device may be suitable for washing non-fragile fruits and vegetables, the system is not suitable for all types of fruits and vegetables, and particularly fragile fruits and vegetables. For example, the bristles and blades of the impeller are described in the '051 patent as being formed of a material that will not damage or bruise food articles being cleaned. However, anytime the bristle or blade is brought into contact with a food article having a very fragile surface (e.g., a tomato), the food article may be damaged by repeated contact with the bristles or blades. In addition, the washing system described in the '051 patent is rather complex, requiring a hose for attaching the water turbine to a pressurized water source such as a kitchen sink, as well as requiring a place for the water to be discharged. Accordingly, such a device has limited utility.
A salad spinner is a known device that is commonly used to wash and dry vegetables. In this type of device, the food articles (typically salad greens or cut vegetables), are placed into a basket provided within a container. The basket generally has a plurality of holes for allowing water to flow through. Water is allowed to run over the vegetables. The flow of water is then stopped and the basket is spun for a period of time to spin the water out of the vegetables. The spinning action acts to remove the water from the vegetables by centrifugal force. However, such a device is not effective for cleaning fragile food articles, since the spinning action may tend to bruise or otherwise damage such fragile food articles. In addition, such a device is not effective for cleaning foreign materials or micro-organisms that tend to accumulate in pores or crevices in the skin or leaves of the food article.